Asbury Park schools have had a lot of bosses. This one could be different.

Last summer, head custodian Michael Byers was worried about his job after 20 years in the district, walking on eggshells after speaking out about what he perceived as retaliation from the superintendent's office.

This summer he found himself laughing with the acting superintendent in the middle school parking lot on Bangs Avenue on a hot day in July.

Though just one staff member, Byers embodies of the overall vibe surrounding the Asbury Park School District following another dramatic school year.

After two years filled with criticism over the lack of communication between the staff and the administration, and ultimately the removal of the previous superintendent, some in the district express greater hope.

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Mark Gerbino has been in the district over 20 years and was contemplating retirement before he became acting superintendent in the middle of the 2023-2024 school year after RaShawn M. Adams was placed on paid administrative leave by the Board of Education .

Gerbino was a math teacher from 2001 to 2005 before became the vice principal at the high school from 2005 to 2010 and then principal for two years after that, during which time the school became the second-most improved high school in the state.

From 2012 to 2016, Gerbino was the principal at Thurgood Marshal Elementary then in 2016-2017 he became the middle school principal. In 2017, Gerbino became the athletic director and would hold that role until 2022-2023, when became the district administrator.

"Now I don't want to retire. I want to see this through," Gerbino told the Asbury Park Press. "I was told by one of my coworkers that I did a year's worth of work in three and half months."

But the work facing Gerbino is not easy.

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Shrinking enrollment, shrinking budgets

The Asbury Park school district has been losing state funding since 2016 , an estimated cumulative loss of $36,429,860 in state funding by 2025 after nearly decade of S2 cuts, referring to the formula that calculates how much state aid each public school district gets. Districts that have seen declining enrollment, such as Asbury Park, have been heavily hit by state aid cuts.

As part of the 2024-2025 budget, the district eliminated 34 jobs, with some positions being abolished permanently . The reduction in force went into effect on July 1.

"Listen, a lot of those decisions weren't easy," Gerbino said. "I had to cut positions. I had no choice. Some of those people were my friends, dear friends, but I had to do it. It is what it is."

The district had been paying $270,730 in rent annually for the central offices on Fourth Avenue. However, in June the district relocated the administrative offices to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Middle School on Bangs Avenue after the board of education negotiated out of the lease.

Gerbino is now in the position to execute an idea he has had for years, redistricting for the coming school year to build more continuity among the staff and students.

"I can get all my grade levels in one place at the same time. Instead of wondering what they are doing in the other buildings," Gerbino said. "We had two elementary schools K-through-5. Two sets of teachers in the same grade level, who could be working together, were separate."

Thurgood Marshall Elementary will be pre-K-through-second grade, Bradley Elementary School will be third grade through sixth grade, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School will be seventh and eighth grade, and Asbury Park High School will remain the same.

"It is going to be 100 years that the high school has been open, next year," Gerbino said. "This history is deep. Things started to kind of unravel over the last 15 years I guess. I just want to give the community something to be proud of."

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Who's in charge?

For the last decade, the superintendent's role has been a revolving door.

In 2014, interim superintendent Robert Mahon resigned, expressing his frustration with the direction of the district after the board of education had been unable to hire a permanent superintendent . Mahon was one of four superintendents that the district had gone through in a six-year period. Gregory Allen was chosen in July 2014 to succeed as interim superintendent until Lamont Repollet was hired as superintendent in October 2014 , serving until January 2018, when Gov. Phil Murphy named him the state's education commissioner . Sancha Gray took the seat in 2018 until 2021.

The median teacher salary in the Asbury Park school district for the 2022-2023 school year was $93,885, the second-highest in Monmouth County behind Freehold Regional High School District and the 38th-highest in the state. However, the student test scores in 2021-2022 ranked the school district dead last, 436th out of 436 in language arts and 425th out of 425 in mathematics.

According to the 2024-2025 budget , the average cost per pupil in 2023-2024 was $37,192, with this number dropping to $32,704 for the upcoming school year.

This year the district dealt with a shortfall of approximately $8 million in state aid.

The district is also dealing with $12 million in charter school payments and a busing cost of $3.4 million. In the 2022-2023 school year, Asbury Park sent $11 million to charter schools while the overall district budget was cut by $8.6 million.

The Asbury Park school district has three charter schools in its service area: Academy Charter, HOPE Academy and College Achieve Public Schools (CAPS).

In reference to all these financial challenges, Gerbino said, "we are not here stealing money, we are here because we care."

"In my office I had a sign that says you get people to work with you, not for you. That is what it comes down to, you've got to build. It is shared leadership. You've got to build within, get everybody on the same page," Gerbino said. "I'll take the heat, that is my job. My job is to make sure (the teachers) are recognized."

Adams had a contentious relationship with the teachers' union since taking the lead two years ago.

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In December 2023, he held a news conference claiming internal critics and political figures in Trenton were working against the best interests of the district, blasting the local teachers' union leader for what he said was the union's role in removing a fiscal monitor assigned by the state.

Two years of tensions finally boiled over in February when the Board of Education voted 5-2 to place Adams on paid administrative leave in an emotional meeting . Then Gerbino took the reins and by mid-March teachers, staff and the Board of Education President Kenneth E. Saunders Jr had commented on the optimism they felt throughout the community .

"I am not going to disrespect (Adams). When I first took over in February and I was in that office with his chair and desk, undefined. That is not mine, it's his and I am not going to disrespect him," Gerbino said. "I don't have to agree with him. I don't have to like him. I am not going to disrespect him."

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Support from the school board and the teachers

As of now, it is unlikely Adams will return to the superintendent position and the district is still on the hook to pay him more than $400,000 for his contract, which doesn't run out until the middle of 2026. The school board has yet to say what the long-term plans for district leadership are. The acting superintendent's salary is approximately $209,000.

If Adams is formally removed, Gerbino would have to interview with school board to see if they will hire him as interim superintendent. "If you've got something better, I am OK with it," he said. "It is not about me."

But he has support from Giuseppe “Joe” Grillo, who has seen four superintendents during his tenure on the school board since 2017. "I feel like we've done more in the past seven months than we've done in the past six years on the board," Grillo said.

"Judge him after a full school year has gone by, but so far, we have seen transformative change," said Grillo who is currently the board vice president. "I'd say that (Gerbino) is starting to turn the district around. We are not spiking the football, at all, but it is good to finally see actions happening instead of just words.

"Thanks to (Gerbino) advocating and calling (state Sen. Vin Gopal) 15 times a day, we were able to get about $250,000 in mental health funding specifically for Asbury Park School District in the recently passed budget. Last year we got zero," Grillo said. "It goes to the value of relationships and this guy (Gerbino) understands how important it is to build trust."

John P. Napolitani, president of the teachers union, said Gerbino "settled in really nice, hit the ground running immediately when he took the position."

"(Gerbino) is probably the one person in the district that I would've had the utmost respect for, knowing he can handle that position," Napolitani said. "The fact that he started out as a teacher, went into an admin role, he's been vice principal … he's been principal. … He has been athletic director. He has very well-rounded experience for the school."

He added that since the district is in summer vacation, overall morale is hard to judge. "But when we left at the end of the school year, it was a much different feeling at that point because people had a sense of hope," Napolitani said.

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. @CharlesDayeAPP Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com .

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park schools have had a lot of bosses. This one could be different.